Grey stood in front of the large gates leading to the Pyrmond Faction with some mixed feelings. Since joining the Faction, he rarely stayed there and has been going from one secret realm to another. Each realm had helped him advance by leaps and bounds, but he still needed to learn some things.
With a heavy breath, he walked towards the gates.
After showing his ID, he was allowed to pass through the gates.
He soon headed to his residence.
….
The moment Grey entered the Faction group, the news got to a few people.
One of these people was the Old man from the same family as Foudre.
"Bring him here. I'd like to see the person who dared to kill Foudre." The Old man snorted.
The person who came to report rushed out of the building, heading straight for Grey's living area.
….
In another place.
The Faction Leader opened his eyes with a long sigh.
"He's returned." He muttered to himself and vanished.
No one told him of Grey's return, he sensed it the second Grey entered the Faction.
….
Unknown to Grey, his return had destroyed the peace of the Faction.
He soon got to Keith's living quarters, and to his surprise, Keith was not around.
He shook his head with a self-deprecating smile, "I tend to forget about this thing lately."
He brought out the communication device and soon found out where Keith was located. It didn't seem far from the Faction, but it wasn't close either.
'Maybe he's out on a mission, I'll go search for him when he returns.' He thought to himself as he went back to his place.
On getting to his place, he noticed something strange and turned around.
"Huh?" He looked at the person standing behind him, a little confused.
"Come with me." The Faction Leader grabbed him and disappeared.
Grey didn't even have the time to ask any questions before he appeared in the cave where he first met the Faction Leader.
The moment he appeared, another figure appeared in front of them.
"Bertram, what are you doing?" The Old man looked at the Faction Leader, before staring at Grey.
"Elder Archibald." The Faction Leader didn't expect him to move this fast.
"You must be Grey?" Elder Archibald looked at Grey curiously.
More Elders had already appeared at this time.
Grey was a little confused as to what was going on, but he still nodded. He didn't show any signs of fear, just staring at the old man in front of him. He could sense a great pressure from the man, even higher than the one the Faction Leader gave. But he wasn't afraid.
"Admit to your crime and cripple your cultivation." Elder Archibald said calmly.
"Crime? What crime?" Grey looked at the Elder in surprise.
He didn't know which crime they were talking about.
"You killed your fellow Faction members, a crime punishable by death. Since I'm in a good mood, I'll just cripple you and send you to the dungeon till the end of your life." Elder Archibald spoke coolly. He didn't even want to hear anything from Grey's side.
Grey's eyes showed a hint of understanding, he finally recalled that he had such an issue before leaving. Originally, he thought the Faction Leader would be able to help him sort it out, but from the looks of things, he can't.
'This Elder Archibald seems to be powerful.' He thought internally.
"I only killed the malignant tumors in the Faction." Grey replied coldly.
Elder Archibald raised a brow and looked at Grey, surprised he was able to talk back. Although no one noticed it, he used his aura to lock onto Grey. A normal Sage Plane Elementalist would not be able to breathe properly, much less speak. But Grey didn't seem to have any problems whatsoever.
'A treasure?' His eyes shone with a strange light.
"The rules of the Faction states that you're not allowed to kill anyone from the Faction. Much less the descendants of one of the Grand Elders." A middle-aged man on the side spoke up.
Looking at him, Grey noticed he was a little familiar. After connecting the dots, he realized Foudre had some resemblance to this man.
'They must be from the same family. Maybe he's his father.' He thought as he stared at the man curiously.
"He broke the rules first, I didn't see anyone trying to do anything to him at that time." Grey replied coldly.
"It's not your place to punish a descendant of mine." Elder Archibald snorted coldly.
"If he was stronger, I'd be dead by now. I'm stronger, so instead of him killing me, I killed him. What's wrong with killing someone who's a threat to your life?" Grey spoke unhurriedly.
"Grand Elder, he only did what anyone else would do. Foudre tried to kill him, but failed. Doing that alone already meant that he had broken the rules and should be punished accordingly. Grey can be said to be exerting this punishment on him." The Faction Leader replied.
"Bertram, it's not your place to tell this old man what is what in the Faction." Elder Archibald snorted.
"Looks like you've all forgotten who the Faction Leader is. I've made the decision, and I want to see who can touch him." The Faction Leader stood in front of Grey.
His motive was clear, I will protect him, what can you do?
"Bertram, don't force my hand. Hand over the boy." The aura of Elder Archibald soared.
This time, Grey felt a huge pressure. The first time, Elder Archibald was only trying to secretly intimidate him with the pressure, now, he was releasing his aura out.
Even with the pressure, Grey didn't lower his head as he stared at the Grand Elder. A Grand Elder was trying to bully him because they felt he didn't have a background.
'I wonder if you'll still be this proud if my father was here.' He thought to himself.
He wasn't afraid that the Grand Elder would kill him. All he needed to do was to tell them his identity and they wouldn't dare to kill him. Punishing him was even out of the picture.
"Elder Archibald, I've already made my intentions obvious, you can not have him." The Faction Leader stood firmly in front of Grey.
His previous ordinary aura had changed completely.
Grand Elder Archibald was irritated by the fact that the Faction Leader was actually going against him because of Grey. One has to know that although the Faction Leader was the leader of the Faction, the Grand Elders could be said to have a higher position. As long as he spoke with the other Grand Elders, they could strip Bertram of his position as the Faction Leader.
"Archibald, enough! We're already in this state, internal strife isn't something we want." A powerful voice spoke out.
"Bertram, come with the boy. Archibald, come along with your people. We'll settle this now."
Bertram's expression changed slightly when he heard this, while Grand Elder Archibald snorted coldly.
They soon vanished from the place.
….
Deep in the Faction ground.
Three sage-like old men could be seen standing quietly. If one focused on them, they would think they were both real and ethereal at the same time.
Figures soon started to appear in the hall.
When Grey arrived, he looked around curiously. This was the first time he was seeing this hall.
Bertram stood in front of Grey once again, shielding him.
"Speak." The figures in the middle said.
"This boy killed my descendant, his fellow Faction member in the Lutra realm. According to the rules, he should be killed." Elder Archibald replied respectfully.
The old man in the middle turned to Grey, seemingly waiting for an explanation from him.
Bertram was about to speak up when the eyes of the old man turned cold. He knew he wasn't the one the old man wanted to speak so he kept quiet, looked at Grey and nodded.
Grey didn't shy away, he stepped forward and told him how everything played out. From his battle with the man from the Gnome race, to when he was unconscious and found by Nathan who didn't want to help him out.
After being taken away, Nathan instigated Foudre to try to kill him with the aim of him being shielded by his background. In the end they failed, and after waking up, he searched for them and took his revenge.
"So you admit to the fact that you killed your fellow Faction members?" The old man in the middle asked.
Grey nodded.
The old man looked at him for a while before turning to Grand Elder Archibald, "What do you want?"
"He should cripple himself and head to the dungeon for the rest of his life. I'm being lenient since he's a Faction member, and I heard of how he helped us win the competition. If not, I would've killed him on the spot." Grand Elder Archibald said.
"Grand Elders, it's clear that Grand Elder Archibald is only favoring his family in this case. If words go out, who would dare to join our Faction again. Oppressing others because you're from one of the Grand Elders' lineage." Bertram said.
The man in the middle thought for a while before staring at Grand Elder Archibald, "Do as you see fit."
Elder Archibald smiled and threw a fist at Grey.
The second the fist was about to hit Grey, a cold snort resonated in the area.
